Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a communication system, and in particular, to a control method and system for providing communication services to users at high speed in a communication system that provides communication services of various types to users.
Description of the Related Art
In general communication systems, power consumption of a Mobile Station (MS) acts as an important factor of the entire system. Therefore, an idle mode operation and a corresponding active mode operation of an MS have been proposed to minimize power consumption of the MS. Generally, when an MS has no data to exchange with a Radio Access Station (RAS) while the communication system is providing a communication service to a user in the active mode, the MS transitions from the active mode to the idle mode in an operation mode by performing a de-registration operation. However, when the RAS has a service to provide to the MS while the MS operates in the idle mode, the RAS sends a Mobile_Paging-Advertisement (MOB_PAG-ADV) message, or a paging message, to the MS, so the MS transitions to the active mode. An MOB_PAG-ADV message, as used herein, refers to a broadcasting message that an RAS sends to all associated MSs in a broadcasting manner, and the RAS uses a Media Access Control (MAC) address hash value of a corresponding MS among the MSs receiving the MOB_PAG-ADV message to notify the associated MS whether the MS will transition from the idle mode to the active mode. The MS that will transition to the active mode upon receipt of the MOB_PAG-ADV message previously activates, to the active state, application programs of all communication service types supportable by the MS to receive data from the RAS. That is, upon receipt of the MOB_PAG-ADV message from the RAS, the MS activates application programs of all service types so that the MS can receive all available communication services associated with the RAS. Thereafter, upon receipt of data of a particular service type from the RAS after activating application programs of all service types as described above, the MS detects a service type of the received data, and then receives a communication service through use of an application program corresponding to the detected service type.
In a communication system as described above, various functions using communication technology for an MS tend to be implemented and united in the MS. Therefore, such an MS typically includes therein modules for performing various functions. For example, an MS may be configured as a Personal Computer (PC) such as laptop, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a notebook PC, a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), etc. In addition, an MS can further include a separate external MS-assistant communication module operating in association with the MS, for example, can include headset, small communication MS, etc.
An above-described MS typically keeps a Power-On State and supplies power to all modules of the MS during a communication service. If a communication function ends after the communication service through the MS expires, the MS normally performs a Power-Off operation, or transitions to a Power Save state. This is to take into account a limited power resource, i.e. limited battery power, of the MS.
When a user of an MS desires to receive a communication service using the MS, he/she should transition to the Power-On State by supplying again power to the MS, and in the communication system, there is an increasing tendency that the MS needs to always operate in a Power-On State.
As described above, when an RAS has a communication service to provide to a MS, i.e. has data of a particular service type to transmit to the MS, the RAS sends a MOB_PAG-ADV message to activate application programs of all service types included in the MS, causing unnecessary waste of power of the communication system, especially the MS.
In addition, in order to smoothly receive the communication service, the RAS and the MS should operate in the Power-On State, and power is continuously supplied even to the unused modules, causing unnecessary power waste. Therefore, a need exists for a control method and system for controlling power of an MS in a communication system.